Drying dishes = Love?

Where did my journey take me today? Does drying the dishes my Dad was washing count? I believe it does. I know this isn’t much but I have to be honest, I hate anything that has to do with doing the dishes. I LOVE to cook, hate to do dishes. My Dad’s routine is doing the dishes every morning before he does anything else. My routine after I get my son off to school is to do my Bible reading for the day, but something kept nudging me today… dry the dishes for him. So I dried the dishes for my Dad and should continue to do so every day. It’s the little things that add up right?

Here’s the back story, before the dishwasher broke in our house it was my son’s job to empty it. After it broke and before my Dad retired, I did the dishes everyday and my son put them away. This summer however I got sick and slowly stopped doing a lot of what I used to do around the house, I just couldn’t get out of bed with the medicine I was on, then I incurred a foot injury that kept me off my foot for extended periods for quite some time. But anyway, my Dad took over the dishes, but he always put them away as he did them. This honestly made me mad at first. My son has very few chores and does what every 12 year old boy does, tries to get out of them, how was he every going to learn responsibility? (Said with sarcasm) Well I was mad, all I asked was that he leave them for my son to put away, he just couldn’t do it, and he still put them away every single time. Not only that, he started taking the trash out too, my sons only other chore he had to do every day! (Oh the joys of moving back home.) I’m embarrassed to say that it has taken until today for me to swallow my anger or whatever you want to call it and help my Dad simply put the dishes away.

So while it may not seem like much, it is a start. I prayed all day every time I thought about it “Lord, help me love more.” “Lord, show me who to love.” “Lord, what can I do to love them?” And honestly, I didn’t get much else today. I tried to smile more, held the door for some people, made conversation when I could, but nothing outstanding. It’s the little things that add up right? If every day I ask the Lord to continue to show me, to continue to help me love more, in theory, every day should be bigger and better than the day before.

My heart did get to feel love today. I teach high school juniors and seniors about child development and working in child care. One of the projects they are working on right now requires them to plan an activity for a classroom that they help out in a few times a week. Today I got to observe my student and hang out with some pretty awesome third graders. I miss working with young kids; they are so innocent and so full of life. (So opposite of my students most days…) There was a little boy with a hearing problem that loved to love on the adults in the classroom. There was a little girl who could definitely have played Ramona from the movie Ramona and Beezus, if you have seen it you know what I mean. The children were respectful and kind and had a wonderful time doing the activity my student prepared for them. Those small things fill my heart with love each and every time.

I showed love in a very small way, and felt love in a big way today. I will not lay down completely exhausted because I used everything the Lord gave me today… maybe tomorrow.